I had company on the trail today. These Canadian geese (click to enlarge) were in the water when I went through the first time, but were grazing near the trail upon my return. Today's ride of 34.2 miles gives me 2,772.4 miles for the year. As you may recall, my plan was to have my second-best mileage year in 2016 and then make an assault on the record in 2017; but I'm so far ahead of schedule that I may make an assault on the record this year. The record is 6,205.9 miles, set in 1990, when I was 32 and 33 years old. It was scorching hot during today's ride. The heat index was 101º when I left the house (at 11:00) and 104º when I returned (at 1:40). I got a reading of 106º during one of my stops, as this snapshot from my iPhone proves:
Having lived in Arizona and Texas since August 1983, I'm inured to the heat. I quite like it, actually. My average speed today was 17.07 miles per hour. My record on this course is 17.45 miles per hour, so you can see that the heat didn't affect me too much.
